Beowulf's Loyalty Analysis

Beowulf’s loyalty is one of the reasons that he is considered a hero. When Beowulf returns to Geatland after defeating Grendel and his mother, he immediately offers many of his gifts to Hygelac and Hygd, the king and queen of his homeland. He could have kept all the gifts for himself and lived as a very rich man, but his loyalty causes him to offer those gifts up to his king and queen. Beowulf also shows his loyalty to his father by his help to the Danes in the first place. Beowulf knows that the Danes helped his father at a point where he most needed it, and so he felt that he should take on that indebtedness from his father to help the Danish people with Grendel.